Father of Man Slain in Street Says ‘There’s War Going On’

A father grieved and friends expressed anger Thursday on a street in the Rosewood neighborhood where the night before two young men were fatally shot and two women wounded by three men who had suddenly appeared and begun shooting.

“There’s a war going on,” said Randy S. Laney of Gardena, whose son was killed Wednesday night. “It has been going on for a long time, and it happens over and over and over.”

Laney said he had been called to East 136th Street, where he found his son, Randy K. Laney, 25, of Los Angeles, lying in the street and then overheard on a deputy’s radio that his son was dead.

The young man had just visited his grandmother’s house two blocks away and then walked over to see friends on 136th Street.

The other fatality, identified by a brother as Joaquin Hillman, 22, apparently was one of those friends.

Investigators Thursday had not found the three men who allegedly opened fire on the street at 7:30 p.m., nor had they determined whether the shootings were gang-related.

Tynisa Cox, a neighbor, said each of the assailants had been carrying a handgun.

“They walked up with their guns showing and said, ‘Don’t be scared,’ and then they just started shooting,” she said.

“They killed innocent bystanders,” said a youth who identified himself as Nathan Long. “Let everyone know that. Joaquin Hillman had just walked out of the house after eating.”